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Got terminated while on disability

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noname2009

Junior Member
NJ

I had a baby 45 days ago and about a week ago while i was still home on my short term disability / maternity leave.. i got a phone call from my employer that they have to let me go because there is not enough work. Now they sent me a release form to sign and waive all rights. they are paying me 3900.00 for signing this form with in 40 days. Is this wrongful termination when some one is on short term disability?

How much will an attorney cost for looking this over?
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
You are operating under a misconception. There IS NO LAW that says you cannot be terminated while on disabilty. The law says you cannot be selected for layoff because you have a disability as defined by the ADA (not all or even most conditions for which you would take short term disability leave will qualify under the ADA, and pregnancy is specifically excluded in all but the most extreme cases) but that is a very different thing than saying that if you are collecting short term disabilty benefits, you have guaranteed job protection. That is not even close to true.

FMLA, though not STD, provides job protection. However, even FMLA does not protect you from a termination that would have occurred anyway. If he does not have any work for you, you can be terminated regardless of FMLA and regardless of disability benefits.

In order to prevail in a wrongful term claim, you would have to show that you would not have been terminated but for your pregnancy. (Pregnancy is a protected condition under the PDA, even though not under the ADA.) In other words, if you can show that if you were out on disability leave with a broken leg or pneumonia, you would not have been terminated, THEN you might have a claim. But STD (which is not leave but how you get paid while you are on leave) does not provide job protection.
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
NJ

I had a baby 45 days ago and about a week ago while i was still home on my short term disability / maternity leave.. i got a phone call from my employer that they have to let me go because there is not enough work. Now they sent me a release form to sign and waive all rights. they are paying me 3900.00 for signing this form with in 40 days. Is this wrongful termination when some one is on short term disability?

How much will an attorney cost for looking this over?
**A: sound to me like the company has a valid reason to terminate.
 

pattytx

Senior Member
And 40 days is much longer than the law provides for, even if you were over age 40. And $3900 is nothing to sneeze at.
 

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